My 2014 SSV, Overlanding/Ham Radio rig project.

[tamitall]

We picked it up fall 2020 from a dealership who had purchased it at auction. it came with no center console and heavily worn cloth seats in front, and leather(ette?) seats in the rear that looked unused.

Here it is the day (before) we got it.

It only had 62k on it when we picked it up. A little investigation showed:

Wow! We had no problems for about 4k, then had the dreaded low oil error. We swapped the oil pressure sender, and filter, with no change. Figured we were in for a new engine, but decided to try an oil change first. I picked Mobil1 High Mileage and the low oil pressure problems have gone away. I've had the oil analyzed by Blackstone Labs and I'm very happy with how the Tahoe is performing. Here's a snap of the most recent oil analysis.

After the oil pressure fiasco, we moved forward with building out the SSV for our ham radio hobby. We do Parks on the Air. We bought the Tahoe to take us to places our previous vehicle wouldn't safely go.

Installed a backup/dash cam.

 

[tamitall]

We had the coolant tees break. Thankfully it happened while parked, not while driving. I've replaced them with billet tees, so I shouldn't have problems again.

After getting some of the necessary maintenance out of the way, I started on the ham radio install.

After we got the basic radio install done, we started doing some camping and traveling in the Tahoe.

My first use of the 4x4. That mud pit was a little bit deeper than I thought!

We did some camping, and exploring.

 

[tamitall]

More exploring.

After a couple trips sitting on the smashed foam in the driver seat, we decided that an upgrade was necessary. We decided on The Seat Shops foam, which is sold as denser than stock foam. Some foam mods were necessary though.

After the foam mods, just installing the leather seat upholstery and reinstalling the seats in the Tahoe. While we had the seats out, I replaced the seatbelts too.

I'm real happy with how the seats feel now.

 

[tamitall]

More exploring!

During this trip, I found that the front receiver mounted antenna is the low point on approach. Thankfully no damage done.

This trip convinced me we needed more aggressive tires. The street tires worked shockingly well, but I felt it was time for a change.

Enter the BFG KO2 tires. These tires are great!!

 

[tamitall]

The stereo in our SSV had been modified by the factory for police use. I fixed it, and replaced the moisture damaged speakers with fresh speakers, with silicon baffles to protect them from water in the door. This job reminded me why most people who do stereo installs are young. Also threw some sound deadening material in the doors. Makes a nice difference in road noise. Please don't ask how much work it was to install those speakers. They didn't really fit, but... I got it to work.

PPV/SSV wiring is.... Unique. The rear speakers were connected to the "front" wires, and the front wires were open. I fixed up the wiring, and got stereo working properly.

Time for a new head unit! The IC shortage of 2021 made buying a head unit an adventure. I managed to find this one, for a decent price, and it ticked many of my desires. No CD/DVD player, bluetooth phone and music, SXM compatibility. The fact that it sounds pretty good is a nice benefit, and wasn't too expensive.

Now with entertainment and AT tires, more exploring!

 

[tamitall]

We've been enjoying taking trips in the Tahoe this summer. I have more mods planned (LEDs!) and will post updates with photos.

 

[tamitall]

Next few mods:
Exterior SXM antenna with higher gain than the stock one.
LED headlights.
LED taillights.
Upgraded Alternator.
Front brush guard?

 

[Sparksalot]

Which front hitch did you end up using?

 

[tamitall]

I got the Draw-Tite #65052. Since I wasn't planning on having a lot of weight on it, it's way overkill. Does a nice job of holding my antenna up though.

Also, had to remove the air dam, and coax the bumper to bend enough to let the receiver ride level. A heat gun helped move the bumper out of the way.

 

[Sparksalot]

I got the Draw-Tite #65052. Since I wasn't planning on having a lot of weight on it, it's way overkill. Does a nice job of holding my antenna up though.

Also, had to remove the air dam, and coax the bumper to bend enough to let the receiver ride level. A heat gun helped move the bumper out of the way.

I hear ya on the approach angle. This was before I added the pushbar.

 

[tamitall]

Great to see another radio operator with a Tahoe. No call plate on this, as our call plates are on other vehicles... but my call is w8tam.

Which pushbar did you go with?

 

[Sparksalot]

Great to see another radio operator with a Tahoe. No call plate on this, as our call plates are on other vehicles... but my call is w8tam.

Which pushbar did you go with?

It’s the GoRhino 5100 series.

 

[Sparksalot]

plates, they come in pairs. Lol

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Nice thread with lots of great photos!

Happy continued motoring!

 

[LiLRedWagon]

Just saw this post. Like how you mounted the rig. Interesting how you mounted that screwdriver out front vs the back. Do you operate HF mobile with the capacity hat on or do you remove it? Do you do any CW? Front mount could be challenging with this push bar on. Enjoyed the pix

 

[tamitall]

Just saw this post. Like how you mounted the rig. Interesting how you mounted that screwdriver out front vs the back. Do you operate HF mobile with the capacity hat on or do you remove it? Do you do any CW? Front mount could be challenging with this push bar on. Enjoyed the pix

Thanks for the kind words! I have operated mobile with the capacity hat on, though I no longer leave it on most of the time. Most of my operating is stationary from parks. We participate in Parks on the Air. I am decent at CW, but rarely call CQ. Mostly return others CQ, or operate in contests. We run mostly digital out of the truck, though a couple weeks ago I operated sideband for the Wisconsin Parks on the Air event.

I'm thinking I'd weld a tab onto a push bar setup to mount the screwdriver on. I know it would either need to be re-powder coated, or watched carefully for corrosion. It would get the feedpoint a little higher, and thus reduce ground losses a bit. I'd also get some of my front approach angle back.

Current projects include a 500w mobile amp for the rig.

73 de w8tam

 

[stocksj]

Thanks for the kind words! I have operated mobile with the capacity hat on, though I no longer leave it on most of the time. Most of my operating is stationary from parks. We participate in Parks on the Air. I am decent at CW, but rarely call CQ. Mostly return others CQ, or operate in contests. We run mostly digital out of the truck, though a couple weeks ago I operated sideband for the Wisconsin Parks on the Air event.

I'm thinking I'd weld a tab onto a push bar setup to mount the screwdriver on. I know it would either need to be re-powder coated, or watched carefully for corrosion. It would get the feedpoint a little higher, and thus reduce ground losses a bit. I'd also get some of my front approach angle back.

Current projects include a 500w mobile amp for the rig.

73 de w8tam


View attachment 351467

Very nice, one of my reasons for getting the 07 Suburban LS is to server as a mobile ham station and haul my astronomy gear. I'll need to replace the front jump seat a find a console to mount my Yaesu FT-857d and ATAS-120. any recommendations for a replacement console that would well for ham radios? also, are you pulling your power from the dual battery setup?

 

[Sparksalot]

Very nice, one of my reasons for getting the 07 Suburban LS is to server as a mobile ham station and haul my astronomy gear. I'll need to replace the front jump seat a find a console to mount my Yaesu FT-857d and ATAS-120. any recommendations for a replacement console that would well for ham radios? also, are you pulling your power from the dual battery setup?

I bought a Jotto floor plate, then built a console.

 

[tamitall]

Very nice, one of my reasons for getting the 07 Suburban LS is to server as a mobile ham station and haul my astronomy gear. I'll need to replace the front jump seat a find a console to mount my Yaesu FT-857d and ATAS-120. any recommendations for a replacement console that would well for ham radios? also, are you pulling your power from the dual battery setup?

Nenno-Products Home Page

We are the leading source of Police center consoles and kits with comfortable armrests, hole patches & accessories for the Ford Explorer Utility, Sedan Interceptor, Expedition SSV, F150 Responder, Crown Victoria P71, Dodge Charger, Chevy Impala 9C1 9C3, Caprice PPV, Tahoe, and Silverado SSV.

nenno-products.com

That's the center console I used. I built a little wood bracket that I bolted to the front of the console to hold the ic-7300 at a good angle.

Here's a photo while I was working on the seat install. Shows a decent profile of the Nenno console, and the bracket I built for the IC-7300.

I put in a battery isolator, and installed a second battery. My truck came with only 1 battery. After installing the isolator, I moved the 3 50amp circuits provided in the SSV onto the second battery. I call it the "house" battery, and try to run as much of the accessories off it as I can. That leaves the starting battery untouched by the radios.

I have a voltage booster with a PTT port on it hidden under the console. Boosts the battery voltage up to 14v for transmit, and doesn't cause any RF interference while receiving.

Currently running on the stock 160amp alternator, but I have a Mechman 370amp alternator to go in at some point.

73 de w8tam

 

[Amp653]

Did you buy the leather seat covers from seat shoppe as well when you updated them? They look amazing